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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

With summer winding down and school about to start, I decided to repeat a post on "How to Have a Successful School Year". This is from my book, A Parents Handbook: How to Get the Best Education Possible for Your Child K-6.

Below are 5 very important things you can do to make sure your child has a successful school year.

1. Make sure your child reads or is read to at home every day: 10-20 minutes for a younger child and 20-45 minutes for an older child. Research shows that students who read at home in addition to encountering a strong reading curriculum at school perform in the top 10% of the nation in standardize testing.

2. Review your child's homework every evening. Do not hesitate to get tutoring or one-on-one instructions if your child struggles with a lesson or assignment. You do not want your child to go on to the next lesson or grade without mastering the current material. If you can not afford tutoring, look into the Girls and Boys Club, YMCA, church tutoring programs, community outreach, or after school programs. Many times honor students or college students tutor younger students. Ask teachers, principals, or other parents for help.

3. Make sure your child reviews and knows all the skills from the grade he/she is leaving. Teacher spend most of the first couple of weeks/months reviewing materials from the past year. Reviewing skills with your child should be a routine during the summer break.

4. Keep your child ahead in lessons. Get a "Teacher's Manual" for the textbook series being used in reading and math in the school your child attends. Get the manual for the grade they are going into. Over the summer make sure they are getting ahead in lessons for the coming year or review skills they have not mastered the past year.

5. Encourage your child to participate in extra curricular activities that they are interested in or show natural talent in (examples; sports, dance, art, music, gymnastics, etc). Such activities develop a well rounded individual with good self-esteem. Be involved and go to every important event.

To read more about getting the "Best Education Possible, by ordering my book from http://www.besteducationpossible.com/ and become a fan of my daily blog, besteducationpossible. In my blog I write about health tips for the family and educational suggestions and issues.